In the modern workplace, many workers spend many hours at a desk or work surface in a seated position. Even with occasional breaks or periods away from the work area, spending several hours each day in the same or similar seated work position often leaves the worker with muscle and joint pain, especially lower back pain. It has become vital to the health and well being of workers that seating is provided for the work environment that promotes health, comfort, and ergonomics. Comfortable, ergonomic seating is of great importance to minimize the physical stresses associated with today's workplace.
In general, the present state of the art is incapable of providing users with the option to switch to different comfortable, healthy postures while keeping them within an ergonomic range of a work station in a manner that is non-disruptive to the task being performed. Particularly, the current state of the art does not provide an active sitting and proactive positioning system which incorporates the support of the various body parts and promotes healthy postures and comfort at work stations.
Numerous attempts have been made to provide seating devices that allow for adjustment of the user's position and distribute support of the user's weight across the buttocks, knees, shins, and back. There are three key features of any ergonomic seating system. First, ease of adjustability prior to use in order to fit users of various sizes. Second, adjustment of the seat bottom and other supports during use to relieve stress and engage different muscle groups. Third, the seating system preferably should allow flexible, natural movement during use to allow the user's upper body to orient to the work at hand and to allow the user's lower body to shift and stretch as desired. Information relevant to prior attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,541,313; 3,669,493; 4,589,699; 4,793,655; 4,832,407; 4,960,305; 5,667,278; 5,669,669; 5,782,534; and 7,367,623. However, each of these references either fails to allow user to shift weight to the user's thighs or fails to allow adequate adjustment of relative position and orientation between a seat bottom and a knee or shin support. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a seating system that a user can adjust to shift weight from the user's posterior to the user's shins and thighs in order to increase comfort and relieve stress.